23rd Nov 2021 09:28
(Alliance News) - CRH PLC on Tuesday said it expects 2021 profit to be "well ahead" of the year before, after a strong rise in sales and earnings in the first nine months.
The building materials firm reported an 11% annual rise in sales in the nine months that ended September 30 to USD22.8 billion.
On a like-for-like basis, sales rose by 7%. The Europe Materials division led with a 13% like-for-like increase, followed by Building Products at 6% and Americas Materials at 3%. CRH said business in the US was held back by poor weather.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the nine months was USD3.9 billion, up 15%, with an Ebitda margin of 17.1%, up 50 basis points.
The Dublin-based company said it expects to book full-year Ebitda in excess of USD5.25 billion, which would be up 14% from USD4.6 billion in 2020.
Taken together with expectations for depreciation, amortisation and finance costs, among other items, CRH said it expects pretax profit to be "well ahead" of 2020's result, which it put at USD2.5 billion before impairments. CRH reported statutory pretax profit from continuing operations of USD1.66 billion in 2020.
The company will report its annual results for 2021 on March 3 next year.
CRH said its share buyback programme continues, with USD800 million completed so far in 2021, with another USD300 million planned by December 23. It also has spent USD1.4 billion on 17 acquisitions so far this year and said it has a strong pipeline of more opportunities. CRH also has made seven disposals, raising USD400 million, including USD100 million in deferred cash from disposals last year.
"Our uniquely integrated and solutions-focused business model has supported further margin expansion across our businesses, while our strong cash generation and disciplined approach to capital allocation provides further opportunities to create value for all of our stakeholders," said Chief Executive Albert Manifold.
CRH shares were up 1.9% at 3,727.00 pence in London on Tuesday morning.
By Tom Waite; [email protected]
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